COUNCIL chiefs are vowing that long-awaited traffic calming measures outside a Coventry school will begin within the next month....

COUNCIL chiefs are vowing that long-awaited traffic calming measures outside a Coventry school will begin within the next month.

The pledge comes after parents of children at Sir Henry Parkes Primary, Prior Deram Walk, Canley, claim they were promised measures to improve road safety would start back in December.

But Coventry's highways department says public consultation over the plans will start next week with work scheduled to begin in July.

Families living close to Sir Henry Parkes have been campaigning for traffic calming for almost three years.

The road is used as a rat-run by drivers as they come off the A45 into Canley. Campaigners say many ignore the 30mph speed limit.

Motorists seem to be unaware there is a school there, say parents, as well as the play area in the park directly opposite.

Mother-of-three Debbie Frost, a parent governor at Sir Henry Parkes Primary, said they were promised work would start in December.

"We have been fighting for this for two-and-a-half years and it has taken so long as the road is not a priority because no one has been knocked down and killed. That is entirely down to good fortune - there have been near misses. We need the speed bumps for the children at the school and those playing in the park opposite."

Protesters were worried that plans to close Sir Henry Parkes, along with Alderman

Harris Primary, and build a new school on Mitchell Avenue in Canley, were affecting the decision on traffic calming.

Ms Frost said: "We cannot help but feel that because they want to close the school, they are unwilling to spend money there."

But a a spokeswoman for Coventry City Council's highways department denied this. She said: "We have been waiting for a contractor to start preparatory work which has now started on the road.

"Newsletters outlining the plans will be sent out to residents asking for their comments and we hope the work, lasting six to eight weeks, will start in July."